Late Charges in Public Library

 

Living in Kuala Lumpur exposes one to educated fools. I've spoken to the 'highly' educated fools armed with degrees from overseas universities. Armed with a couple of English words, they behave more American than the American, more British than the British. At times language fluency is confused with intelligence. In a typical Asian society, fluency in English is equivalent to clever people. 

Natesan Visnu 

I can relate to the rural kids and their needs. The only way to liberate them is through education and encouraging them to read. The state of public libraries is so bad. Most Malaysians don't read and they tend to be very judgmental with their RM 1.50 knowledge (local newspapers) without studying in-depth any issues. It would be really nice to see the poor kids reading Dickens, Twain, Salinger, Heller, Tagore, etc. 

In the age of knowledge, we need to equip the poor kids with books. Whatever said and done with the whole IT knowledge community, reading frees the mind of the poor. For voracious readers out there, you would truly understand the power of reading. A good library is always better than BR1M handout.

The book clubs and national reading program by the so-called intellectuals appeal only to urban settlers. I would love to explore the ideology of getting all the poor kids to become avid readers. The urban settlers live in their bubble of mental masturbation that does not contribute to our rural society members. That saddens me.

Living in Kuala Lumpur exposes one to educated fools. I've spoken to the 'highly' educated fools armed with degrees from overseas universities. Armed with a couple of English words, they behave more American than the American, more British than the British. At times language fluency is confused with intelligence. In a typical Asian society, fluency in English is equivalent to clever people.

We are surrounded by phonies that refuse to associate themselves with their original identity. The case is obvious among Indians where they refuse to talk in Tamil despite understanding Tamil well. The Tamil speaking crowd is not so cool as compared to the English speaking crowd. I bet most of us are familiar with the famous term 'kunjum kunjum tereyem (knows a little bit) of Tamil.

The 'kunjum kunjum tereyam' culture is famous among Indian families that raise their kids with typical English speaking environment at home. Usually the kids will grow up to know Steven Spielberg better than Mani Ratnam or Sivaji Ganesan. Thank god for AR Rahman winning the Oscars or else most of the kids will grow up knowing Radiohead or Coldplay but not AR Rahman. Tamil music would have been buried among the English speaking crowd if it wasn't for AR Rahman.     

I remember a scene from the movie ‘Good Will Hunting’, a conversation between an undergraduate student and Will (Matt Damon);

Chuckie: All right, are we gonna have a problem?

Clark: There's no problem. I was just hoping you could give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the early colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War the economic modalities, especially of the southern colonies could most aptly be characterized as agrarian pre-capitalist and...

Will: [interrupting] Of course that's your contention. You're a first year grad student. You just got finished some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison prob’ly, you’re gonna be convinced of that until next month when you get to James Lemon, then you’re gonna be talkin’ about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year, you’re gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin’ about you know, the Pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.

Clark: [taken aback] Well, as a matter of fact, I won't, because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of—

Will: ..."Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth..." You got that from Vickers. "Work in Essex County," Page 98, right? Yeah I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us- you have any thoughts of- of your own on this matter? Or do- is that your thing, you come into a bar, you read some obscure passage and then you pretend- you pawn it off as your own- your own idea just to impress some girls? Embarrass my friend?

Will: See the sad thing about a guy like you, is in about 50 years you’re gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One, don't do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.

Clark: Yeah, but I will have a degree, and you'll be serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.

Will: [smiles] Yeah, maybe. But at least I won't be unoriginal. 

The above conversation reminds me of the current state of undergraduates. They are unoriginal and their parents dropped a few hundred thousand on education that could be obtained at a local library. Sad but true. What we really lack is originality.  

The government spends billions of ringgit for education. But the simple idea of building good libraries, employing good language teachers and encouraging young minds to read would have really saved some millions from the billions. The investment for reading would shape the future of our country in a very different way. We won't end up having educated fools holding public offices and continue to waste millions in years to come.  

"The ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr". All we have is the ink of a scholar to shape the future generation. The battle to liberate Malaysians is far from over. I'm not sure how we as individuals can shape the next generation. I think instead of collecting dust in your bookshelves, find the young minds that love to read and give them the book. Tell them once they have finished reading, they should do the same. It's a simple idea but it will go a long way.

We criticize the leaders for their stupidity. But don't forget that they come from the background of spending a few hundred thousand for a degree in top universities and not reading time at a local library. If you plan to retire in comfort, start sharing your books with young kids. You are investing for your future with kids that value the power of reading and not some fancy ivy leagues degree.

We need original thinkers; not parrots that repeat fancy words from their college professors. We need thinkers that question everything before accepting. The real utopia is when you have an ideal society that values knowledge. Knowledge starts from reading.

Share your books, folks!